Santa Monica – Page 2 – IAMNOTASTALKER

September 10, 2014October 22, 2018

The Victorian from “Mr. Mom”

Some movie scenes just seem to stay with you, seared into your memory for years, despite the fact that you can remember little else about the storyline. That’s how it was for me and Mr. Mom. I had not seen the comedy since 1983 when it first premiered in theatres and recalled few details from it, but the scene in which Jack (Michael Keaton) dried his baby’s bottom in a public restroom using a hand blower had stuck with me. Recently, on a whim, the Grim Cheaper and I decided to re-watch the flick. I was pleasantly surprised to discover how relevant Mr. Mom still is – and even more pleasantly surprised to recognize a location while watching!

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In a brief scene towards the end of Mr. Mom, Jack goes out to dinner with some of the housewives from his neighborhood.

Despite some changes to the exterior, I immediately recognized the spot where the group dined as The Victorian (aka Basement Tavern) located at 2640 Main Street in Santa Monica. It is a place that the Grim Cheaper and I frequent on a regular basis whenever staying on L.A.’s west side. We discovered the eatery about a year ago during an evening stroll on Main Street and fell in love with its gorgeous patio – which I posted a picture of on Instagram – on sight. We promptly decided to grab dinner there and were thrilled by the restaurant’s top-notch menu and fabulous happy hour. It has been one of our dining staples ever since.

The two-story, Victorian-style property was originally constructed as a private residence for an optometrist named Dr. George Kyte in 1892. At the time, it was located at 1003 Ocean Avenue. In 1973, the 15,000-square-foot home was moved about a mile and a half south to its current location as part of Santa Monica’s California Heritage Museum project. A neighboring residence, the First Roy Jones house, was moved to an adjacent lot at the same time. The Jones House was slated to become a historical museum and the Kyte House an upscale restaurant. There were some hold-ups in the planning and development process, though, and it was not until 1977 that The Chronicle was opened inside of the Kyte House. It was founded by restaurateur Lud Renick as a sister eatery to his Pasadena outpost of the same name, which was located at 897 Granite Drive. (The Pasadena Chronicle originally opened in 1971 and was shuttered in 1996. In more recent years, the Granite Drive site housed Jennifer Lopez’s former Cuban bistro, Madres, which I blogged about here and here).

While doing research for this post, I was shocked to discover that The Chronicle was where John Thomas Sweeney worked after serving a scant three-year-eight-month jail sentence for the killing of his former girlfriend, 22-year-old Poltergeist actress Dominique Dunne. I have long loved the writings of author Dominick Dunne and have read quite a bit about the 1982 murder of his daughter. When Sweeney was released from prison in 1986 after serving what Dominick called “a tap on the wrist” of a prison sentence, he landed a job as head chef at The Chronicle. The Dunne family was furious upon hearing the news and famously began standing outside the eatery each night, handing out flyers to patrons which read, “The food you will eat tonight was cooked by the hands that killed Dominique Dunne.” Sweeney soon quit, changed his name and moved to the Pacific Northwest. I had known about the flyers and the Dunne’s ongoing fight for justice for their daughter, but never knew the location of the restaurant where they staged their nightly protests.

The Chronicle, which you can see a photograph of here, shut its doors sometime around 1987. After the closure, the Kyte House was acquired by the Gerson family, who also own fave restaurant Malibu Café at Calimigos Ranch (which I blogged about last month). The Gersons operated the property solely as a special events and wedding venue for many years, but in 2010 they opened Basement Tavern, a 2,000-square-foot bar, in the basement of the home. On evenings when weddings are not taking place in the actual house, the Basement Tavern also serves dinner and drinks on the residence’s patio and bottom floor. The Victorian is a truly charming place with excellent food and I cannot more highly recommend dining there.

Fellow stalker Chris informed me that The Victorian also popped up as the supposed San Francisco-area Le Grill restaurant, where Jesse Katsopolis (John Stamos) took the Tanner family to dinner to celebrate his wife Becky’s (Lori Loughlin) promotion, in the Season 8 episode of Full House titled “The Producer.”

For more stalking fun, be sure to follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Los Angeles magazine online. And you can check out my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic, here.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The former The Chronicle restaurant from Mr. Mom, now The Victorian, is located at 2640 Main Street in Santa Monica. You can visit the property’s official website here and Basement Tavern’s official website here.

August 27, 2014February 23, 2015

The Water Garden from “A to Z”

During my recent viewing of A to Z’s digital preview (which you can watch here – I’ve now seen it twice!), I recognized a location featured in it – The Water Garden in Santa Monica. The Grim Cheaper used to live close to the office complex and I had driven by it countless times over the years. I had never ventured onto the property for a closer look, though, so I decided to amend that while in the area last week. And I was shocked at what I discovered!

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While the exterior of The Water Garden (pictured below) is pretty, the interior grounds, which are not visible from the street, are absolutely breathtaking! I cannot even imagine having an office there! What an idyllic place to work!

The Water Garden complex is much larger than it appears to be from the street. The 17-acre property, which takes up an entire city block, is comprised of eight buildings (six 6-story structures and two 5-story structures) that total a whopping 1.27-million square feet of office space.

The eight buildings surround a massive waterway that meanders throughout the grounds, complete with geysers, fountains and bridges. Like I said, it is breathtaking.

The complex also features lush landscaping with rambling, trellised pathways that make the property look more like a public park than an office facility. What I wouldn’t give to work there!

On A to Z, The Water Garden is where both Andrew (Ben Feldman) and Zelda (Cristin Milioti) work – Ben at a matchmaking company named Wallflower and Zelda at a law firm.

The complex was used extensively throughout the pilot episode.

Some of The Water Garden’s interior space was also utilized in the pilot – as both the interior of the Wallflower offices . . .

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. . . and Zelda’s law firm. I am guessing that will not be a regular practice, though, and that a set of both office interiors will be built on a soundstage for all subsequent filming.

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The Water Garden also made an appearance in the Season 3 episode of CSI: Miami titled “Recoil,” in which it stood in for the Biscayne Courthouse where Horatio Caine (David Caruso) and the gang investigated a shooting.

Oddly, while an image of The Water Garden was used in an establishing shot of the Biscayne Courthouse in the Season 6 episode of CSI: Miami titled “Inside Out” . . .

. . . actual filming took place elsewhere.

The Water Garden also served as the San Francisco headquarters of Gryzzl in the Season 6 episode of Parks and Recreation titled “Moving Up.”

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Water Garden, from A to Z, is located at 1620 26th Street in Santa Monica.

June 2, 2014January 8, 2020

Chez Jay from “A Single Man”

The April issue of Los Angeles magazine (for which I wrote my very first print article ever – you can read it here) featured a Time Frame image of one of Santa Monica’s most historic restaurants, Chez Jay, reminding me that while I had stalked the watering hole ages ago, I had yet to blog about it. So here goes!

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Chez Jay was originally founded by a Connecticut-born struggling actor named Jay Fiondella. During the 1950s, Jay was working as a bartender at Sinbad’s on the Santa Monica Pier and, before his shifts, he would often grab a bite to eat at a nearby coffee shop named Dawn’s Cafe. He learned through his regular visits that Dawn’s was struggling financially and one fateful day the owner offered to sell the place to him for the bargain price of $1. Fiondella laid down the bill and the eatery became his. He named the place “Chez Jay,” in honor of Chez Joey, the restaurant owned by Frank Sinatra in the 1957 movie Pal Joey. (In a fateful twist, Sinatra would later become a Chez Jay regular.) The new eatery opened for business on July 4th, 1959. For the grand opening fete, Jay brought in showgirls and an elephant. Yes, an elephant! (You can see a photograph of it here.) Legend has it that the animal slammed its trunk on the bar at one point in the evening, denting it, and that that dent it still visible to this day.

The tiny space, which boasts a scant 10 tables, 12 bar stools and a 150-square-foot kitchen, quickly became popular with everyone from locals to the Hollywood set. Just a few of the luminaries who have dined there over the years include Ava Gardner, Vivien Leigh, Peter Sellers, Angie Dickinson, Chris Penn, Bronson Pinchot, Warren Beatty, Hugh Hefner, Robert Mitchum, my girl Marilyn Monroe, Joe DiMaggio, Marlon Brando, Judy Garland, Cary Grant, Jim Morrison, Michael Caine, Fred Astaire, John Belushi, Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Clint Eastwood, Dennis Hopper, Steve McQueen, Natalie Wood, Henry Kissinger, Leonard Nimoy, Cher, Viggo Mortensen, Renee Zellweger, Kiefer Sutherland, Mick Jagger, Tony Bennett, Joan Baez, Lee Marvin (legend has it that he once rode his motorcycle right up to the bar and ordered a drink), Julia Roberts, Sean Penn, Quentin Tarantino, Drew Barrymore, and Kevin Bacon. Frank Sinatra and other members of the Rat Pack would dine there weekly before their regular poker game. David E. Kelley and Michelle Pfeiffer even met there for the first time during a dinner party. And Matt Damon and Ben Affleck worked on their Oscar-winning screenplay for Good Will Hunting in the establishment’s back room. Not too shabby of a clientele!

Legend has it that Chez Jay was also the inspiration for the Regal Beagle, local Santa Monica hangout of Jack Tripper (John Ritter) and the gang, on Three’s Company.

Jay Fiondella passed away in 2008 at the age of 82 and the iconic restaurant is now run by his son, Chaz, daughter, Anita, and longtime business partner, Michael Anderson. The eatery’s future became uncertain shortly after Jay’s death when the City of Santa Monica began demolishing an adjoining parking lot to build what is now Tongva Park. During construction, city officials decided that Chez Jay did not fit in with their vision and hoped to demolish the place to make room for an open-air, family-friendly establishment. Thankfully, preservationists stepped in and the historic watering hole was given landmark status in late 2012. Chez Jay’s future is still somewhat uncertain, though, as the restaurant may be forced to undergo a remodel or an add-on. You can read a more in-depth history of the site here and here.

Despite having stalked Chez Jay on more than one occasion, the Grim Cheaper and I have never actually eaten there. It’s not for lack of trying, though. The place is always packed to the gills and typically doesn’t even have any standing-room-only space.

Thanks largely to the fact that little of Chez Jay has been changed over its 55-year history, the place has been featured onscreen several times. In the 1990 film Bad Influence, the restaurant was where Alex (Rob Lowe) took Michael Boll (James Spader) for a beer shortly after meeting him.

The interior of Chez Jay was also shown briefly in the scene.

In the 2009 drama A Single Man, Chez Jay popped up twice as The Starboard Side bar. It first appeared in the flashback scene in which George (Colin Firth) remembered first meeting his longtime boyfriend, Jim (The Good Wife’s Matthew Goode).

While the interior of the bar was also used briefly in the scene, not much of it was visible. The large amount of people shown packed inside it is a pretty accurate depiction of what the place is like in real life, though.

In a later scene, George runs into a student named Kenny (Nicholas Hoult) while at Chez Jay and the two have drinks.

The interior is shown in that scene, as well.

Chez Jay is also where Mark Callan (Wilson Bethel) meets with one of his father’s cronies in the Season 1 episode of All Rise titled “What the Constitution Greens to Me.”

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Chez Jay, from Bad Influence, is located at 1657 Ocean Avenue in Santa Monica. You can visit the restaurant’s official website here.

April 8, 2014April 8, 2014

Opera on Ocean from “Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead”

A couple of weeks ago, a fellow stalker named Gina reminded me of a Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead location that I had yet to blog about – Opera on Ocean, the Santa Monica restaurant where slime-ball Gus (John Getz) took Sue Ellen Crandell (Christina Applegate) for a lunch date in the 1991 flick. I had tracked the eatery down a while back, but because it had been shuttered years prior, I never ventured out to stalk it. Then, when I was in Santa Monica last week, I randomly found myself in front of the building that once housed it and figured now was as good a time as any to do a post on the place.

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Opera on Ocean, which was originally called simply “Opera,” was opened on the ground floor of Santa Monica’s Paseo del Mar building in March 1988 by restaurateurs Jerry Singer and Doug Delfeld and real estate developer Gary Fowler. Despite the musically-influenced name, no singing was done on the premises. According to a Los Angeles Times article published the year the eatery was founded, the moniker was “a metaphor for all these different things coming together.” The 130-seat space, which included an enclosed patio and an on-site take-out bakery, was designed in a Mediterranean style by Ruben Ojeda. Sadly, Opera, which served a mix of Spanish, Italian and Moroccan fare, never took off and was soon in dire financial straits. In 1989, the restaurant was taken over by new owners, who changed the name to “Opera on Ocean.” The chef, menu and décor were also altered, but it didn’t make a difference on the bottom line and the establishment was shuttered in November 1990.

The space was then remodeled and an outpost of the Il Fornaio chain opened there in 1995. After over 17 years in operation, it, too, eventually closed in late November 2012. Eight months later, a Del Frisco’s Grille opened at the site, following another major remodel/gutting of the interior and patio area. The property looks quite a bit different today than it did in 1990 when Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead was filmed.

In Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead, Gus takes Sue Ellen out for a welcome lunch at Opera shortly after she starts working at General Apparel West. During the meal, “Swell” orders a Martini & Rossi on the rocks and the server asks if she wants it sweet or dry, to which she responds, “Um, oh, just a little bit of both.” Winking smile The exterior of Opera (as well as its signage) was shown in the scene and, thanks to Paseo del Mar’s beautiful architecture and prominent location directly across from the Santa Monica Pier, I recognized the building immediately during a re-watch of the flick back in 2009. (At the time, I was in a bit of a Don’t-Tell-Mom-filming-locations-track-down obsession, having just found the Crandell house and Clown Dog from the movie.)

Because the space has been extensively remodeled twice since filming took place there back in 1990 and I can find no photographs of how it previously looked online, at first I was unsure if Opera’s actual interior had appeared in the lunch scene or if a different restaurant had been used.

But then I spotted the word “Opera” on Sue Ellen’s menu in the scene, so the eatery’s interior did, in fact, appear in the film.

As you can see in the images below and in this online tour of the former Il Fornaio space, after the first remodel the restaurant became absolutely unrecognizable from Don’t Tell Mom.

The Del Frisco’s redesign (photographs of which I got off the restaurant’s website) made the place even more unrecognizable. Talk about a change!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Del Frisco’s Grille, aka the former Opera on Ocean restaurant from Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead, is located at 1551 Ocean Avenue in Santa Monica. You can visit Del Frisco’s official website here.

March 1, 2011April 21, 2011

Stalking the 2011 Academy Awards

As I have mentioned countless times before on this blog, Oscar Weekend is, hands down, my favorite weekend of the entire year. Hollywood just seems to come alive during Oscar Weekend and I honestly cannot get enough of it. And this year was no different. My Oscar stalking began early this past Saturday morning and continued on through late Sunday night and I think it is safe to say that the poor Grim Cheaper is absolutely beat. Winking smile Thankfully though, some good friends and fellow stalkers – Beth, Mary, Debbie, and Carol – were in town from Louisville, Kentucky and they let me tag along with them all weekend, so the GC did get somewhat of a reprieve. And while this year was, sadly, not as great as previous years due to the fact that hotels have seriously beefed up their security and many would only let actual guests through their front doors, we still managed to have an absolute BLAST! We started out our 2011 Oscar stalking adventure Saturday morning when we hit up the blue carpet at the Independent Spirit Awards – and yes, the event does actually feature a blue carpet. The Spirit Awards are held in a tent directly next to the beach in Santa Monica and, let me tell you, this year the weather was absolutely FREEZING – and I mean that literally! It actually SNOWED in many parts of Los Angeles this past weekend (not kidding!) and the GC and I witnessed it firsthand at one point, which I am fairly certain he was more excited about than any of the celebs that we encountered.

When we arrived at the Spirit Awards, there was already a HUGE group camped out along the blue carpet, but we still managed to snag a pretty good spot in which to stand. While there, I ran into celebrity stalker extraordinaire Pinky Lovejoy (pictured above), from the Pinky Lovejoy Blog, whom I had met at Alec Baldwin’s Star Ceremony a few weeks back. Smile

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We had an absolute blast stalking the red carpet and just a few of the stars who were on hand include Jason Isaacs – aka “Lucius Malfoy” from the Harry Potter movies;

Warren Beatty;

Annette Bening;

Jennifer Lawrence;

Amanda Peet, who is absolutely ADORABLE in person;

Anthony Mackie;

Terrance Howard;

director Danny Boyle;

Diego Luna;

John Hawkes;

Sarah Steele from Spanglish;

Greta Gerwig from Greenberg;

Samuel L. Jackson;

Liev Schreiber;

Aaron Eckhart, who is GORGEOUS in person;

one of fellow stalker Owen’s favorite actors, Paul Rudd;

Malin Ackerman;

Amber Tamblyn;

David Cross;

Erika Christensen;

Jane Lynch (YAY!);

(I absolutely LOVE that the GC managed to snap a picture of Jane making one of her famous Sue Sylvester faces!);

Eva Mendes;

Jesse Eisenberg (he did not turn towards the crowd when he arrived, so we only got a picture of the back of his head);

Jeremy Renner;

Rainn Wilson (aka Mr. Dwight Schrute!);

Jamie Foxx;

Ben Stiller;

Rosario Dawson;

Joel McHale (LOVE, LOVE, LOVE him!);

and Nicole Kidman (who is STUNNING in person) and Keith Urban.

I LOVE the picture of Nicole above, which my friend Carol snapped. So cute!

Natalie Portman tried to sneak in behind Nicole and Keith, but thankfully the GC still managed to get some pics of her. Smile

After the Spirit Awards arrivals wrapped up, the GC and I headed on over to the Kodak Theatre to do some stalking of the Academy Awards’ red carpet. Sadly though, everything was blocked off this year and we were not allowed to walk on the red carpet or to get very close to any of the set-up, which was incredibly disappointing.

We did spot the above-pictured Oscar statue being hauled from the Renaissance Hotel to the Kodak Theatre, though, which I thought was absolutely hilarious.

We then headed over to the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel (where the first Academy Awards ceremony was held) to see if anything was going on there. As fate would have it, the E! channel was running rehearsals for their Oscar coverage show in the lobby of the hotel and we were lucky enough to be able to watch. As you can see in the above photographs, Kris Jenner was on site rehearsing for the show.

As was Ross Mathews, from Chelsea Lately.

As luck would have it, Kris wound up leaving the hotel at the exact same time we did and she was nice enough to pose for a photo with me on her way out, which I could NOT have been more excited about. I have actually never been a fan of Keeping Up With the Kardashians, but I will always have a special place in my heart for the series due to the fact that anytime someone encounters my family for the first time, they invariably say, “You guys need your own reality show! You are funnier than the Kardashians!” My good friend Nat keeps threatening to secretly videotape us and send the result to the E! channel. LOL I guess I can see where people are coming from, though. Case in point – this past Friday afternoon the GC downloaded and then proceeded to spend a good ten minutes showing me an app in which one, while in a store, can scan the barcode of an item along with its price using the camera on their iPhone and the phone will then subsequently spit back a list of places where you can purchase said item for less money. Not kidding! I totally thought he was joking with me, but sadly he wasn’t. Not only is that app real, but the GC fully expects me to USE it! Oh, the things I have to put up with!

On Sunday evening, while doing some more hotel stalking, I spotted Doris Roberts, from Everybody Loves Raymond and Christmas Vacation fame. My grandma absolutely LOVES Doris, so I just had to ask her to pose for a photograph with me and thankfully she obliged, which I could NOT have been more excited about. Smile Other celebs that we spotted out and about this weekend, but didn’t get photographs of were Mark Wahlberg, Lou Diamond Phillips, Bai Ling, Frances Fisher, Gary Busey, Ed Asner, Pat Boone, Meat Loaf, Charo, Caroline Herrera (on her way to the Oscars in an absolutely STRIKING dress), Tara Reid, Brenda Strong (aka Mary Alice from Desperate Housewives), Gloria Allred, Noah Wyle, Taylor Armstrong from The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, Jessica Stroup (aka Silver from 90210), Glee’s Chris Colfer and Matthew Morrison, Jennifer Lopez (who is absolutely STUNNING in person!), Renee Zellweger, Russell Brand, Kirk Kerkorian, Megan Mullally, Nick Offerman, Harvey Weinstein, Chace Crawford, Cate Blanchett, Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen (who are sooooo tiny in person it was almost unbelievable), Ron Jeremy, Jeffrey Ross, Fred Willard, Sofia Milos, Pierce Morgan, Robert Downey Jr. and Susan Downey, Jude Law, George Hamilton, Reese Witherspoon, Timothy Olyphant, Elton John, Craig Robinson (aka Darryl from The Office), Joanne Worley, and Antonio Sabato Jr.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Oscars are held each year at the Kodak Theatre, which is located at 6801 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood. The Grim Cheaper and I usually drive up and down Sunset Boulevard during Oscar weekend, stopping into various hotels along the way to spot celebs. A few of the hotels we usually stalk include The Mondrian, which is located at 8440 Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood, the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, which is located at 7000 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel, which is located at 1755 North Highland Avenue in Hollywood, and the Chateau Marmont, which is located at 8221 West Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles.

February 3, 2011February 2, 2011

Drago Ristorante from “Entourage”

Last Monday afternoon, I found myself having to kill a few hours of time while my car was being repaired at a mechanic’s shop on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, so I headed across the street to grab a latte and some lunch at a restaurant named Aroma Bakery & Café. I had never before dined at Aroma, but thought the name sounded vaguely familiar and had a brief recollection that it had once been featured on the hit HBO television series Entourage. Well, my memory is obviously not quite as good as I thought because as it turns out the restaurant was never actually featured on the show (it was Urth Café that I had been thinking of), but my mis-memory ended up to be very fortuitous. While I was researching Aroma Bakery on my Blackberry, I came across a thread on the Chowhound website detailing numerous area restaurants which had been featured on Entourage and I almost fell off of my chair when I saw that one of the eateries mentioned was Drago Ristorante in Santa Monica, a place that I have actually dined at numerous times before, but had never realized was a filming location! Then I almost fell off my chair once again when I received a call from the Grim Cheaper a few days later, informing me that his boss had just invited us to dinner at Drago Ristorante that Friday night!!! Talk about synchronicity! So, a few days later the GC and I headed out to the West Side for some dinner and some Entourage stalking. Yay!

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Drago Ristorante was originally opened in 1991 by native Sicilian chef Celestino Drago, who had previously founded Celestino restaurant in Beverly Hills. Drago became a virtual overnight success and now, almost two decades later, it is a veritable Santa Monica institution. Celestino has also become something of a celebrity chef along the way and has since opened up several other eateries including Dolce Forno bakery in Culver City, Entoneca Drago and Il Pastaio, both in Beverly Hills, Drago Centro in Downtown Los Angeles, and Celestino in Pasadena. And I have to say that Drago is EXCELLENT! I opted for the Petto Di Pollo, Funghi Trifolati entrée which featured king trumpet mushrooms that were quite possibly the largest mushrooms I have ever seen in my entire life! They were A-MA-ZING and I would have honestly been happy eating a handful of them by themselves, but I , of course, also chose to gouge myself on the chicken which was doused in a light truffle sauce. And, oh my lord, was it good! I should forewarn my fellow stalkers that the restaurant is on the pricey side, so if you are looking for a reasonable night out, Drago would not be a good choice. If you don’t mind dropping a couple pennies, though, it is ENTIRELY worth the expense.

In the “Oh, Mandy” episode of Entourage, Vince Chase (aka Adrian Grenier) meets up with Mandy Moore, who played herself on the series, at Drago Ristorante in order to talk about the upcoming movie Aquaman, in which they are both set to star. While the two are dining, Eric Murphy (aka Kevin Connolly), Johnny ‘Drama’ Chase (aka Kevin Dillon), and Turtle (aka Jerry Ferrara) wait for Vince in their car out in front of the restaurant. Drago Ristorante also appeared in an early season episode of fave reality show The Bachelor, although I am not sure of exactly which episode or which season. The place is also something of a celebrity hot spot. The GC’s boss saw Ed ‘Neill, Anne Bancroft, Mel Brooks, and Garry Marshall there all on one night a few years back!

On an Entourage side note – Thanks again to the Chowhound website, I recently discovered that HBO has a locations tab on the Entourage section of its website which lists the main locales featured in each and every episode of the show. HOW INCREDIBLY COOL IS THAT??? Why do ALL shows not do this???? Love it! Love it! Love it!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Drago Ristorante, from the “Oh, Mandy” episode of Entourage, is located at 2628 Wilshire Boulevard in Santa Monica.

December 29, 2010December 28, 2010

Architect Frank Gehry’s House

One location that I stalked quite a while back, but have yet to blog about is the residence belonging to legendary 81-year old Pritzker Prize-winning architect Frank Gehry, a man who is perhaps best known for his contemporary designs of the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Downtown Los Angeles, the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, the Dancing House in Prague, the Experience Music Project in Seattle, and his new line of jewelry for Tiffany & Co. Gehry and his wife, Berta, purchased their pink Dutch Colonial-style Santa Monica home in 1977 and the architect immediately began a process of “deconstructivism” on it. Interestingly enough, he left the exterior of the home completely intact and untouched, but stripped down the interior to the point that only bare studs and wood framing remained. He subsequently set about rebuilding the interior with more modern-style elements and then proceeded to wrap the exterior of the original house with a new frame made of corrugated metal, plywood, glass, aluminum, and chain-link fencing, essentially wrapping the entire house with a brand new exterior.

According to the Arch Daily website, of the unusual design, the architect said, “I loved the idea of leaving the house intact. I came up with the idea of building the new house around it. We were told there were ghosts in the house . . . I decided they were ghosts of Cubism. The windows . . . I wanted to make them look like they were crawling out of this thing.” He also stated, “Here we are being surrounded by material that’s being manufactured in unimaginable quantities worldwide and is used everywhere. I don’t like it, no one likes it, and yet it’s pervasive. We don’t even see it. I noticed and started to find ways to beautify it. I wanted to take the curse off the material. It’s also why I made cardboard furniture. Cardboard is another material that’s ubiquitous and everybody hates, yet when I made the furniture with it everybody loved it.” Ironically enough, although he had received quite a bit of recognition prior to the remodel, it is Gehry’s Santa Monica house that is largely credited with putting the now-iconic architect on the map.

And while the unique abode became an architectural phenomenon virtually overnight, Gehry’s neighbors were not quite as appreciative of his aesthetic. Legend has it that one even went so far as to shoot at the house late one night in a show of protest! In 1991, Gehry angered both his neighbors and architectural enthusiasts alike when he once again remodeled the property, this time to meet the needs of his family – he had two growing teenage boys at the time who each wanted a room of their own. Architectural purists apparently feel that the most recent remodel makes the house appear too “finished”, but, as you can see above, the new design still retains quite a bit of rawness and the place is definitely still an acquired taste. In fact, the Grim Cheaper used to live just a few blocks away from the property and we would often drive by and marvel at the residence’s atrocity. It wasn’t until years later that we realized who the house belonged to and its architectural significance.

The oddest part of the property, in my mind at least, is the extensive use of chain-link fencing, which in most instances seems to appear virtually out of nowhere. And even though the residence is not really my cup of tea, I can’t recommend stalking it enough for the mere fact that there is literally no other place like it in the entire world.

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Gehry’s house was hilariously recreated – animation-style – for the Season 16 episode of The Simpsons titled “The Seven-Beer Snitch”, in which Marge Simpson commissions Gehry, whom she calls “the bestest architect in the world”, to build a concert hall in Springfield. That concert hall winds up going bankrupt on its opening night and is later turned into the Springfield Prison.

You can see some great interior and close-up photographs of the Frank Gehry residence here.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Frank Gehry’s house is located at 1002 22nd Street, at the corner of Washington Avenue, in Santa Monica.

January 6, 2010January 6, 2010

The “Father of the Bride” Churches

One location that I have wanted to stalk for what seems like years now is the church where Annie Banks married Bryan MacKenzie in my all time favorite wedding movie, the 1991 classic Father of the Bride. But, according to IMDB, two different locations actually stood in for Annie’s wedding church in the film – one for the exterior shots and a different one altogether for the interior scenes. And I’d been longing to stalk both of them pretty much ever since I moved to the Southern California area. What I didn’t realize at the time, though, was that IMDB actually got one of the churches – the one which they claim was used for the establishing shots – wrong. Get out of here! IMDB posted a bogus address?? Well, I simply don’t believe it! 😉 Thankfully though, fellow stalker Owen stepped in and decided to put the mystery of Annie’s wedding location to rest once and for all. While doing some cyberstalking recently, he happened to stumble upon this blog in which the author randomly mentions that he lives down the street from the church used in Father of the Bride. So, Owen contacted the blog author and asked for the name and address of the church, which he happily gave him and, voila, the mystery was solved! YAY! And once I had the correct addresses, I immediately dragged my fiancé right out to stalk both churches!

Surprisingly enough, even though the church used for the exterior shots – which is named HOPE Christian Fellowship in real life – looks very much the same today as it did when Father of the Bride was filmed back in 1991, it wasn’t at all what I was expecting to see in person. In the movie, the church, which is covered in snow thanks to an unprecedented Los Angeles snowstorm which takes place the night before Annie’s wedding, seems to be a charming, little small-town type of parish. But in real life, HOPE Christian Fellowship is located on a very busy and very wide thoroughfare, which takes away from its small-town feel. Other than that, though, I am happy to report that the church – and its bell tower – look pretty much identical in person to how they appeared onscreen in Father of the Bride. 🙂

The interior scenes of the Banks/MacKenzie wedding were filmed at Trinity Church in Santa Monica (pictured above), which is located a good thirty miles away from HOPE Christian Fellowship. Why the producers chose to film at two churches that were located thirty miles away from each other is beyond me, especially since the exteriors of both are quite similar looking. I am guessing, though, that they wanted the exterior of Annie’s wedding church to have a quaint feel to it, and Trinity Church, while pretty, is anything but quaint. You would think that producers would have been able to find a quaint church in the Santa Monica area to use for the exteriors, but I guess that’s Hollywood for you! 🙂

According to an EXTREMELY nice congregation member whom I spoke with named Bob, the Father of the Bride producers had the interior of Trinity Church painted for the filming and it has not been repainted since! So, in essence, the church still looks EXACTLY the same today as it did when the movie was filmed back in 1991! How incredibly cool is that??? Sadly, though, Bob told me that there are currently plans in the works to paint the entire interior an ivory color sometime this year. SO SAD! I tried to talk Bob into leaving the church exactly as it appeared in the movie, but unfortunately, being that I am not a member of the congregation, I don’t think what I had to say had much merit. LOL So, if you are a fan of FOTB and want to stalk the church where Annie got married, I suggest you do so sooner rather than later, as Trinity may look a whole lot different in the coming months. 🙁 Bob, who was actually the very person who negotiated the deal for Father of the Bride to be filmed at Trinity, also told me that producers had the crew lower the church’s overhead hanging lights for the filming, after which time they were returned to their normal height. As you can see in the above screen captures, the lights do not hang quite as low in real life as they did in the movie. The crew also brought in a red carpet to cover up the white tile located in the lobby’s entrance area and after the filming was over that carpet was gifted to the church. In fact, that very same carpet is still used to this day when the church hosts special events such as – you guessed it – weddings! 🙂 So cool!

As you can see in the above screen capture, it also appears that producers covered one of the church’s side doors with a fake wall for the filming, to make it appear as though the lobby had an ante-room. In reality, though, that area is little more than a hallway. Other than the height of the lights, the lobby rug, and the covering of the side door, though, Trinity Church still looks EXACTLY – and I do mean EXACTLY – the same today as it did when Father of the Bride was filmed there 18 years ago! Love it! Love it! Love it!

And, of course, I just had to take a picture sitting in the spot where George and Nina Banks (aka Steve Martin and Diane Keaton) sat during Annie’s wedding. In real life, though, there is no barrier separating the first row of pews from the altar as there was in the movie.

Trinity’s main entrance doors were also used in Father of the Bride, in the very brief scene in which Annie and her new husband, Bryan, exit the church immediately following their wedding ceremony.

Trinity Church of Santa Monica is absolutely beautiful in person and the people I spoke with while there could NOT have been nicer to me or more informative! I honestly can’t recommend stalking the place – or even getting married there – enough! If I didn’t already have my wedding venue locked down, I would seriously consider Trinity Church. I mean, how cool would be it be to get married in the same place where Annie Banks tied the knot? 😉

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Big THANK YOU to Owen for finding these locations! 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The church used for the exterior shots in Father of the Bride is named HOPE Christian Fellowship and it is located at 6116 North San Gabriel Boulevard in San Gabriel. You can visit their website here. The church used for the interior shots is named Trinity Church of Santa Monica and it is located at 1015 California Avenue in Santa Monica. You can visit their website here.

January 5, 2010January 4, 2010

Simon Baker’s Former House

While doing some cyberstalking on fave website Virtual Globetrotting a few weeks back, I came across this post listing the address of a Santa Monica home which formerly belonged to cutie Mentalist star – and my latest celebrity crush – Simon Baker and I just about keeled over from excitement. So, when my dad asked if I would be able to take him to a doctor appointment in the Santa Monica area yesterday morning, I literally jumped at the opportunity and informed him that we’d be making a little stalking pit stop first. 🙂 Thankfully, since my dad is also a big Mentalist fan, he didn’t give me much grief about being dragged along on this particular stalking expedition.

My dad and I were both quite shocked when we pulled up to the residence and saw it in person, as it is a lot smaller than we had anticipated and looks like a fairly normal suburban home. A very nice suburban home, of course, but still fairly normal, nonetheless. My dad kept saying, “There is no way Simon Baker lived there!” Thanks to the property’s ostensible lack of a front wall and exterior gate, it’s hard to imagine a celeb like SB ever calling the place home. But I guess it sort of makes sense being that Simon lived in the house about nine months before The Mentalist hit the airwaves, turning him into a household name and creating the need for some sort of exterior wall to keep stalkers like myself at bay. 😉

SB and his wife, actress Rebecca Rigg, purchased the 2,394 square foot, three bedroom, two bath home, which was originally built in 1934, on December 13, 2006 for a whopping $2,626,000 and sold it just a little under 13 months later, on January 10, 2008, for a nice little profit at $2,895,000. While living in the house, the couple remodeled and expanded the kitchen area and added a pool and spa to the backyard. You can see interior photographs of the home at the time it belonged to SB here. The area where the house is located – which just so happens to be one of the most expensive areas in all of Los Angeles County – is known as Gillette’s Regent Square and was developed by none other than King Camp Gillette, the razor blade magnate who also gave us King Gillette Ranch, aka the Biggest Loser Ranch, in Calabasas. Amazingly enough, during the time that Simon lived in the house, my fiancé lived just a few blocks away [in a much less expensive area, of course. ;)], yet we never ran into him! How we missed each other is beyond me, being that Owen Wilson also used to live in that same vicinity (at 947 23rd Street) and my fiancé and I ran into him not once, but twice!!!! Oh, SB, where were you hiding??? 😉 According to fave website The Real Estalker, when SB sold this house, he purchased an even larger one also in the Santa Monica area. So, you know what that means, don’t you?? Yessiree, there’s a whole other Simon Baker residence out there just waiting for me to stalk it! 🙂 YAY!

On an interesting side note – Fellow stalker and Mentalist aficionado Liz recently alerted to me to the fact that Rebecca Rigg, SB’s real life wife and mother of his three children, played widowed actress Felicia Scott in the Season One episode of The Mentalist entitled “A Dozen Red Roses”. So cool! 🙂

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Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Simon Baker’s former house is located at 534 20th Street in Santa Monica. Owen Wilson’s former residence is just a few blocks away at 947 23rd Street. Courteney Cox also owned a house in the area, at 606 Alta Avenue, during her Friends days. Across the street from Courteney’s former digs is the 7th Heaven house, which can be found at 527 Alta Avenue. Also in the area is Danny Devito’s house from Twins, which can be found at 323 11th Street, and Darrin and Samantha’s house from Bewitched, which is located at 267 18th Street.

December 17, 2009December 16, 2009

The Venice Christmas Show

This past weekend, my good friend and fellow stalker Kerry and her husband flew out to California for a little Winter stalking visit. The main purpose of their trip was to attend a Christmas concert on Saturday night put on by a local band named Venice. Kerry has been a fan of Venice since she was in her teens and actually used to know a few members of the group personally. And even though I was not familiar with the band, when she invited my fiancé and I to tag along with her to the show, I jumped at the opportunity. I’m always up for anything having to do with Christmas. 🙂 Venice first started out back in 1977 and is comprised of four members – brothers Mike and Mark Lennon and their cousins, brothers Kipp and Pat Lennon – all of whom grew up in the Venice area, hence their name. Kipp and Pat are the younger siblings of Lawrence Welk Show regulars The Lennon Sisters, so I think it’s pretty safe to say that this is one VERY musical family. 🙂 Even though Venice usually plays smaller venues, as was the case this part Saturday night, they are an extremely popular group and have been featured on such shows as Entertainment Tonight, Live With Regis and Kathie Lee, E! News Daily, CNN’s Showbiz Today, as well as countless others. They have also appeared onstage or collaborated with such musical legends as Bruce Springsteen, Elton John, Phil Collins, Bon Jovi, Dolly Parton, The Beach Boys, and The Doobie Brothers, among many, many others. And while Venice has enjoyed much success in America, their biggest fan base is actually located in the Netherlands where they perform several shows each year. But after seeing the show this past Saturday night, I think it’s safe to say that their American fan club has a new member because I absolutely fell in love with the foursome. In fact, their “Christmas With Venice” CD is quickly becoming one of my holiday favorites! 🙂

And while the three hour plus concert was absolutely phenomenal – Venice even played some Jackson 5! – the highlight of the evening for me had to be when Kerry and I got to meet actress Teri Polo, of Meet The Parents fame. One of Kerry’s friends, who we met up with before the concert began, knew about my blog and my penchant for celebrities and told me to keep my eyes open during the performance as Teri might just make an appearance. As it turns out, Teri is the long time girlfriend of Venice’s drummer, Jamie Wollam. It is here that I should mention that a Venice concert is not your average, everyday concert event. Even though the Lennons are very well-known in the music industry, they are all extremely laid back and approachable. Apparently, a few years back, Mike Lennon invited an entire audience over to HIS HOUSE for a pancake breakfast the morning following one of their shows!! How incredibly cool is that??? Anyway, the concert venue was very intimate and instead of amphitheatre-style seating, regular tables and chairs were set up, complete with homemade Chex Mix laid out for all of the guests. Seating was not based on price, but rather on when tickets were purchased and each seat was then marked with a tag denoting the audience member’s last name. Because Kerry’s husband was one of the very first to book seats, we were situated FRONT and CENTER. Literally, I think we had the best seats in the entire house! 🙂 Anyway, once I heard that Teri Polo might be in attendance, I spent the next twenty minutes or so scanning the name cards to see where she might be sitting! LOL No, I’m not a stalker, really!!!! 😉

I really needn’t have wasted all that time scoping out the tables, though, because once Teri walked in the door, I spotted her immediately! Even though it was fairly dark inside, she was pretty hard to miss. Teri is absolutely striking in person, with a long, long mane of shiny blonde hair. Once Teri got herself seated, Kerry and I immediately approached her to ask her if she wouldn’t mind taking a photograph with us. I have to admit I was a little nervous to do so after the whole Bruce Willis/”Doubtful” incident, but Teri honestly could NOT have been nicer. In fact, she is hands down one of the NICEST celebs I have ever met. Teri spoke with Kerry and me for a good ten minutes or so and once she heard that Kerry was visiting from Washington State, started talking about the time she spent there while filming the television series Northern Exposure. And get this, even though it has been a good 15 years since she acted on the show, she remembered some of its filming locations! LOVE IT! 🙂 While we were talking with Teri, my fiancé walked up and mentioned that he had seen a film crew setting up for the Meet the Fockers sequel while working in Downtown L.A. a few weeks ago, to which Teri said “Oh, I’m sorry, I hope we didn’t cause too much trouble for you while we were there!” See, what I mean, how nice is that??? LOVE HER!! Please excuse my hair in the above photograph – I was having major issues that day due to the rain and humidity in Santa Monica.

After the show, all of the band members came into the audience to sign autographs and pose for pictures. SO LOVE IT! Kerry was lucky enough to get photos with each member of the group, including Kipp;

Pat;

Mike;

and Mark.

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Mark was the nicest out of the whole group and, let me tell you, I just about fell over when he recognized Kerry almost immediately after she walked up to him, even though he had not seen her in over twenty years and had no idea she would be attending the concert that night. SO DARN COOL!

And, of course, Kerry and I both just had to get a picture with Teri Polo’s boyfriend, drummer Jamie Wollam. Jamie spent about fifteen minutes speaking with us and – just like his girlfriend – truly could NOT have been nicer!!!! He didn’t even get annoyed when BOTH Kerry and I had flash trouble with our cameras. It took several minutes before we figured out why our flashes weren’t working, at which point I think even I would have been annoyed with us. 😉 But Jamie took everything in stride and was extremely gracious about the whole thing, even joking that the flash malfunction had to do with the fact that he was actually a vampire. 🙂 After meeting Jamie, it’s not at all hard to see why he is going out with Teri Polo – they are easily two of the nicest celebrities that I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting! 🙂

Randomly enough, the Venice Christmas Show was held in the Santa Monica Bay Woman’s Club, which, like most venues in the L.A. area, also happens to be a common filming location! The woman I spoke with was not sure what productions the hall has been used in over the years, but I did some digging and was able to find out that it will be featured in the yet-to-be-released movie The Social Network, based on the life story of Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg. And while I didn’t get many photographs of the Woman’s Club interior, I definitely plan on re-stalking the place after The Social Network premieres. 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Venice will be playing several California shows in the near future. You can find out more information on the official Venice website. The Santa Monica Bay Woman’s Club is located at 1210 4th Street in Santa Monica. You can visit its official website here.